Packaging heavy, bulky machinery such as lawn and garden tractors, lawn mowers, snow mobiles, boat motors, engines, air compressors, air conditioners and the like presents many unique considerations. Because such machinery is by nature difficult to handle and store, convention double-wall or triple-wall laminated corrugated paperboard containers have long been recognized as being unsuitable for packing heavy machinery. As a result, wood reinforced boxes with mating bases and top frames have been developed. These shipping containers are often referred to as wood cleated boxes.
The conventional wood cleated box consists of a wood reinforced corrugated paperboard body, a wooden top frame and a wooden base. At least one interior wall of the corrugated body is provided with a wood reinforcement vertically aligned to provide stacking strength. The corrugated paperboard body gives the container definition and maintains the position of the vertical wood reinforcements. The base member, often referred to as a skid or pallet, supports the container and the product packed therein. The top frame closes off the container and provides a constant surface upon which another container may be stacked. The top frame aids in distributing a top load imposed on the container; for example, a top load is imposed by a smaller package placed on top of the container in a less-than-load shipment. The arrangement of the wood cleated box seeks to prevent collapse of the container even when shipped and stored in multi-unit stacks, typically having between two to six units.
These wood cleated boxes are often handled by clamp trucks and forklifts during shipping and storing. To facilitate the use of clamp trucks and forklifts with such wood reinforced corrugated paperboard shipping containers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,256 discloses separate, specifically configured attaching strips on the lowermost portion of the corrugated body or container. The attaching strips are fixedly secured to the container in alignment with the sides of the base. The container is placed on the base and joined thereto. Typically, a container properly positioned on its base has a lowermost edge in a substantially horizontal plane. After the container is positioned on the base, a series of spaced-apart nails or staples are driven through the container wall, through the attaching strip and into the base to join the container and the base together. Such a container resists separation of the corrugated body from the base and can be handled by clamp trucks and forklifts. The attaching strips reinforce the lower edge of the container where the staples or nails are driven to attach the container to the base. The attaching strips are made of a material which is denser than the corrugated paperboard. This construction resists the staples from pulling through the container walls and thereby prevents separation of the container from the base.
In some instances, however, during packing of heavy equipment on an assembly line, the container is not properly positioned on the base. This leads to several problems. First, these types of wood cleated boxes are typically stacked two to six units high when held in warehouses, during shipping, and during handling. Without being fully positioned or seated down around the base, the container is not square. One corner or side is higher than the other corners or sides. As a result, the stack of wood cleated boxes leans and is unstable. A stack of wood cleated boxes which falls causes irreparable damage to the container, significant damage to the product and potential harm to bystanders. Second, staples or nails are used to join the attaching strips on the container to the base. Without being properly positioned, the container is not adequately secured to the base. Forklift or clamp truck handling of such boxes with a mis-positioned container can result in separation of the container from the base, again causing damage to the container and the contents, as well as risking potential harm to bystanders. Third, the pressure exerted by the weight of such stacked containers leads to damage of the box having an improperly seated container. For example, such pressure causes the staples used in joining the improperly seated container to the base to be bent, deformed, or broken, thus allowing the base to separate from the container.
Furthermore, some assembly lines on which these wood cleated boxes are packed use compressed air operated staplers to join the container to the base. These staplers, whether automatic or manual, may continue to operate even after the supply of staples is exhausted. Usually, the operators of such stapling machinery visually check the magazine of the stapler to insure that the supply has not been exhausted, but such visual checking may be overlooked for several cyclings of the equipment. As a result, the container is either not joined or is insufficiently joined to the base. This, of course, can also result in separation of the base and the container during handling. Such separation leads to damage of the container and the contents, as well as potential injury to bystanders.
A clamp truck handling a box with missing fasteners can also lead to damage of the container and contents and injury to persons nearby. Clamp trucks supply force to the sides of the container with hydraulically operated platens. If the base is not properly fastened to the container, the weight of the product can cause the base to fall out during clamp truck handling, risking damage to the product and bystanders.
Thus, there is a need in the prior art for a container and base that addresses the problems of joining the container to the base so that the container is seated properly on the base and the container is interlocked to the base.